Idling mechanism for knitting needles in a hand knitting machine



1960 TATSUE SUZUKI ET AL 2,953,333

IDLING MECHANISM FOR KNITTING NEEDLES IN A HAND KNITTING MACHINE FiledApril 16, 1958 JNVENTOR-S' TATSUE suzum. *ICHl'Ll suzu n nited StatesIDLING MECHANISM FOR KNITTING NEEDLES IN A HAND KNITTING MACHINE FiledApr. 16, 1958, Ser. No. 728,902

Claims. (CI. 66-72) This invention relates to an improvement in a handknitting machine, and particularly to an idling mechanism for knittingneedles in a hand knitting machine.

Heretofore, it has been inefficient to knit a figured fabric by a handknitting machine because the figure is formed by hand-Worked stitches.Therefore, when it is intended to knit a figured fabric, a hand knittingmachine becomes worthless because of trouble and time required tohand-work stitches. In addition, it has become general that knittedfabrics are employed not only for winter clothing but also fordecoration. Therefore, it is necessary to provide an effective handknitting machine whereby a figured fabric may be formed mechanically.

One object of this invention is to provide a hand knitting machinewhereby figured fabrics may be knitted mechanically.

atent G Another object of this invention is toprovide a hand knittingmachine whereby figured fabrics may be formed mechanically with a highefficiency in operation.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a hand knittingmachine whereby substantially infinite kinds of figures may be formed inknitted fabrics at will.

A further object of this invention is to provide a foolproof and durablehand knitting machine of the class described.

According to this invention, ahand knitting machine comprises aplurality of knitting needles having shanks, respectively, a pluralityof sinker needles arranged alternately therewith, and a carriage.adapted to slide across said knitting needles supplying a.- yarnthereto, so as to effect cooperation of said knitting needles with saidsinker needles in such a manner that said knitting needles approach saidsinker needles successively, catch said yarn, and then recede away fromsaid sinker needles, and further comprises an idling mechanism for saidknitting needles, comprising a cylindrical change shaft, said shanks ofthe knitting needles being placed on the cylindrical surface of saidshaft, and said surface having recesses adapted to engage with apredetermined group of said shanks so as to lower the latter when saidshaft is displaced, whereby a group of knitting needles having saidpredetermined group of shanks is made idle so as to be inactive in saidco-operation with said sinker needles.

The invention will be better understood and other objects and additionaladvantages of the invention will become apparent upon perusal of thefollowing description taken in connection with the drawings, and thescope of the invention will be defined in the appended claims.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a plan view of an essential part of a hand knitting machineembodying the principles of this invention.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a part of the idling mechanism of thehand knitting machine.

Referring now to Figs. 1 and 2, a body 11 is formed as a trough having afront wall and a rear wall. A

2,953,838 Patented Dec. 13, 1960 needle bed 13 is fixed on the body 11.The needle bed 13 has rounded front and rear edges 15 and a plurality oflongitudinally extended perforations 17. Therounded edges 15 areparallel with each other and serve to guide a carriage 19. A pluralityof latch type knitting needles 21 each having a butt 23 are spaced underthe needle bed 13. The stems or shanks of the knitting needles 21 areslidably inserted through holes 25 provided in the front wall of thebody 11 and vertically elongated holes 27 provided in the rear wall ofthe body 11. The butts 23 of the knitting needles 21 protrude throughthe perforation 17 of the needle bed 13. The hole 25 is somewhatvertically elongated in shape and the vertically elongated hole 27 isappreciably vertically elongated.

A cylindrical change shaft 29 is provided transversely between andsubstantially parallel to the side walls of the body 11 so as to supportthe shanks of knitting needles 21 on the cylindrical surface of theshaft 29.

The carriage 19 'is mounted on the needle bed 13 in engagement with theguide rails 15 so. as to be slidable transversely and carries at raisingcam 133 and a pair of knitting cams 33, whereby the knitting needles areoperated. A sinker case 35, a transversely extended box of a sheetmetal, is fixed on the body 11 along the front edge thereof. There is aplurality of sinker needles 37 formed from metal rods each having asubstantially L-shaped upper end. The other ends of the sinker needles37 are fixed on the sinker case 35 so as to locate the sinker needles 37alternately with the knitting needles 21. Two invertedly L-shaped arms39 fixed on the front end of the carriage 19 carry a fabric presser 41of a sheet metal. The rear edge of the fabric presser 41 is able toslide together with the carriage. 19, pressing lightly the fabric, hungfrom hooks of the knitting needles 21, towards the sinker case 35. Oneend of a yarn feeder arm 43 is fixed on the carriage 19 and the otherend of the yarn feeder arm 43 is provided with a yarn feeder 45.

It is necessary that the knitting needles 21 be so arranged with respectto the carriage 19 that the needles 21 are able to be slidlongitudinally, being guided by the hole 25 and the elongated hole 27when the butts 23 of the needles 21 are pressed transversely by the camsprovided under the carriage 19. In order'to engage-the butts 23 with thecams, it is necessary that the hole 25, the elongated hole 27, and thechange shaft 29 are arranged appropriately so as to carry the knittingneedle 21 at an appropriate height.

Now according to this invention, the change shaft 29 is adapted to berotatable and slidable axially, and is provided with a plurality ofrecesses 47. Each of the recesses 47 is formed on the cylindricalsurface of the shaft 29 along a part of a circumference of the cylinderand so shaped in depth that, when the shank of a knitting needle 21engages the bottom of the recess 47, the top of the butt 23 of theneedle 21 may appear above the needle bed :13 through the perforation 17but does not engage with the cams, thereby to make idle the needle 21.Accordingly, it is necessary that the vertically elongated hole 27 isvertically long enough to position the needle as above.

In order to knit a figured fabric, it is necessary that a group ofspecified knitting needles 21 be made to take such an idle position.Therefore, such recesses are formed spaced accordingly to the positionsof the specified needles 21. In order to get a differently figuredfabric, another group of specified needles is selected for idling.Corresponding recesses are formed also on the cylindrical surface of theshaft 29 along different parts of the circumferences from theabove-mentioned recesses. For example, the former recesses are formedfor every the sinker needles 37 thereby to knit a fabric as usual.

Referring now to Figs. 2 and 3, according to this invention, when it isintended to knit a figured fabric, the change shaft 29 is operated. Thechange shaft 29 is slid transversely or turned through an angle so as toplace the shanks of a required group of the knitting needles 21 on thebottoms of a corresponding group of recesses formed on the cylindricalsurface of the change shaft 29. Thus the shanks of this group of theknitting needles 21 are lowered together with their butts 23' by theirown Weight, whereby the specified knitting needles 21 cannot'engage thecams, respectively. Accordingly, the specified knitting needles 21 (asshown by a numeral 21' in Figs. 2 and 3) do not make stitches while theother knitting needles 21 make stitches, respectively, when the carriage19 is slid across these needles supplying a yarn. Thus a figured fabricis knitted.

In order to substitute another group of the knitting needles for theabove specified group 21, the change shaft 29 is turned or turned andslid axially so as to raise the group of the specified needles 21' andefiect lowering of another group of the needles into another group ofthe recesses. Thus ditferently selected knitting needles may be made toidle. According to selection of the group, differently figured fabricmay be knitted at will.

While ,a particular embodiment of the invention has been illustrated anddescribed, modifications thereof will readily occur to those skilled inthe art. It should be understood therefore that the invention is notlimited to the particular arrangement disclosed but that the appendedclaims are intended to cover all modifications which do not depart fromthe true spirit and scope of the invention.

We claim:

1. In a hand knitting machine comprising a plurality of latch-typeknitting needles having butts and mounted for longitudinalreciprocation, sinker needles cooperable with said knitting needles, acarriage mounted for sliding reciprocation transversely of said knittingneedles, yarn feeding means on said carriage, and cam means on saidcarriage engageable with said butts to reciprocate said knitting needlesrelative tosaid yarn feeding means: mechanism for idling selected groupsof said knitting needles comprising, in combination, guide means forsaid knitting needles providing for vertical movement thereof toposition their butts into and out of operative engagement with said cammeans; and a cylindrical shaft extending transversely of said knittingneedles beneath and with its cylindrical surface supportingly engagingthe shanks thereof to maintain said butts engaged with said cam means,andmovable relative to such shank; said shaft being formed with distinctgroups of axially spaced chordal slots in its'periphery, the chordalslots of each group subtending the same respective arc of the shaftsurface and having chordal bottom surfaces lying in a common plane; therespective groups of slots having their slots spaced axially in.accordance with the transverse spacing of the selected groups ofknitting needles to be idled; whereby, upon movement of said shaft tovertically align the slots of a selected group with the shanks of thegroup of knitting needles to be idled, the knitting.

needles of such group to be idled will move into the slots of saidselected group to drop the needle butts out of operative engagement withsaid cam means.

2. Mechanism for idling selected groups of knitting needles as claimedin claim 1 in which said shaft is rotatable about its axis.

3. Mechanism for idling selected groups of knitting needles as claimedin claim 1 in which said shaft is axially slidable transversely of saidknitting needles and rotatable about its axis.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS152,021 Tripp June 16, 1874 2,719,418 Yamada Oct. 4, 1955 FOREIGNPATENTS 93,965 Germany Feb. 27, 1896 311,163 Switzerland Jan. 31, 1956

